NIGERIA: TAKING STOCK AT 57

October 1, 2017 was no doubt a remarkable day in the history of Nigeria being the 57th anniversary of our country as a sovereign and an independent nation. Firstly, as tradition demands, the occasion was meant to be used to remember the birth of Nigeria through the lowering of the Union Jack by Britain, our colonial master. Secondly, the occasion has become a fertile ground for stock taking on the gains or otherwise as an independent nation, using the overall well being of the people as a gauging parameter. There are countless number of areas where self-assessment of our country need to be carried out but the one that readily comes to mind has to do with the betrayal of the masses by politicians, who rather than owe their allegiance to the wellbeing of the people, use politics as an avenue for personal aggrandisement.

This betrayal has no doubt been well captured and summarised in a view expressed by a patriotic Nigerian and a veteran journalist, Aba Saheed whose consistent contributions and resilience towards emergence of an egalitarian society can never be opened to doubt. In his back page article titled “Butter, Bread and Betrayal” published on back page of Nigerian Compass newspaper, Monday, January 23, 2012, he said: “Unfortunately, betrayal is the order of the day. And of course, the most notorious is the world of politics. This is in atmosphere where politics is played in its crudest form. Politicus, meaning cunning and clever, is the only interpretation of that word known to the most primitive of men all over the world. It is so in America, same in Europe and Asia, and lamentably so in Africa. What makes betrayal in politics most prevalent in Africa and in most developing economies is the alarming rate of mass poverty. Politicians in developing economies speak with two sides of the mouth. If it were possible, they would grow fistula in their mouths and speak with as many holes as the disease has planted on their mouths. They behave as if the word conscience does not exist. Betrayers never go unpunished and they never end well. They never have peace. The bread will finish, the butter will melt and conscience will pursue them with vicious sword.” In the same vein one cannot but make reference to the expressed view of a concerned Nigerian, who, in Nigerian Tribune edition of Monday, May 15, 2017opined as follows: “Nigerians, it’s time to wake up. Our leaders and politicians have misplaced their priorities. They prefer to buy big houses and expensive cars, and build five star hotels all in the fear of poverty or being poor again. They see these as a means of fighting poverty after public office. They fail to create an enabling environment for investors to come into the country and industrialise it. Since they have failed to give us uninterrupted power supply, good roads, security and other basic amenities that could aid development, they also become scared on investing their ill-gotten wealth in establishing companies that could employ the masses, in order to eradicate unemployment and fight hunger.”

It would be recalled that a bill seeking amnesty for treasury looters has been aptly described as “scandalous” by the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN). The bill sponsored by Linus Okorie, a member of the House of Representatives and of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State, was said to have been read for the first time on June 14 in the House of Representatives. Whatever the merits or demerits of the bill, it is foolhardy for any living Nigerian to come up with such a bill knowing fully well the mindless and mind-boggling looting of the public treasury that took place under the immediate past PDP government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

To say that corruption has been taken as a source of income by civil servants and public office holders before the coming to power of President Muhammad Buhari is to say the obvious. But thanks for his hard stance against the menace, his administration is systematically tackling and clearing the rots handed over to him by his predecessor in office. The need for all hands to be on deck in the ongoing onslaught against corruption in our country cannot be overemphasised. Making our country a zero-tolerant one is a project which the present and future generations of Nigerians stand to gain from. Odunayo Joseph, Mopa, Kogi State